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Jose Angel Munoz
Jose Angel Munoz

Posted on • Edited on

We need more women

It is a fact that gender-diverse teams are more effective. Research has shown that they produce more effective results, learning opportunities, and task mastery.

Diverse teams can improve business in many different ways like:

  • Innovation, where diversity can bring different experiences, ideas, and perspectives to the table
  • connection. An inclusive culture increases employee engagement and productivity and will impact directly customer engagement.

There are many studies demonstrating that Gender-Diverse Teams Perform Better.

First Question:

Why I can count with three hand fingers my women colleagues in my 20 years of career working in Engineering?

Let's count:

  • Rebeca
  • Maria
  • Eva
  • Laura
  • Nina
  • Marisa
  • Itziar
  • Cristina
  • Mercedes
  • Angela

Brian Uzzi says:

“The benefits of gender diversity are kind of hidden, and because they’re hidden, they’ve been underutilized.”

Second question: Are women hidden?

I don't think so.

The Female Factor

This study findings relates:

There’s little correlation between a group’s collective intelligence and the IQs of its members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises.

The chart plots the collective intelligence scores of the 192 teams in the study against the percentage of women those teams contained. The red bars indicate the range of scores in the group of teams at each level, and the blue circles, the average. Teams with more women tended to fall above the average; teams with more men tended to fall below it.

The Female Factor

Third question: Are we afraid of intelligent people, and therefore we are afraid of women?

I miss a team where I could learn more from diversity and more women in the same team. I miss your creativity, your intelligence and your ideas.

Top comments (6)

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cbid2 profile image
Christine Belzie

Final question: Are we afraid of intelligent people, and therefore we are afraid of women?
Interesting question @imjoseangel. Since this industry is male-dominated, I have a strong feeling that sexist and (some well-intentioned men) have a fear(unconscious in male allies) of being outnumbered and left behind, hence why you hear the comments like "everyone struggles in tech" or "what about us?" whenever women share their stories.

Second question: Are women hidden?

I don't believe so. This study findings relates:

There’s little correlation between a group’s collective intelligence and the IQs of its members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises.

Interesting study, but I'm somewhat struggling to see how it answers your question. It seems to focus more on the IQ levels of women(which has its own flaws but that's a different conversation hehe 😊) than the amount of visibility they have in tech. Can you make that correlation please?

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imjoseangel profile image
Jose Angel Munoz • Edited

Thanks @cbid2 for your comments.

We are running at 50% of power because there are not enough women in tech, at least in my context.

Even though we have lots of studies, the issue is still there.

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cbid2 profile image
Christine Belzie

Ahh I see @imjoseangel.

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pwd9000 profile image
Marcel.L

I can't agree more! We need more women in tech, diversity in the industry is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity. When we embrace diverse perspectives and talents, we unlock innovation and creativity that propel our industry forward :)

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tamouse profile image
Tamara Temple

There aren't enough women in tech, for sure. Women also leave tech at much higher rates than men do. There are no shortage of articles on the why of that.

If you think there should be more women in tech, what are you (not the OP, I'm speaking generally) doing to not only bring them in, but get them to want ot stay?

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imjoseangel profile image
Jose Angel Munoz

Fully agree @tamouse

Really good observation and something we all need to care about.

Thanks for commenting!